JK Tyre Racing Greater Noida: Day 1 report

Ananth Shanmugam, Anindith Reddy Konda, Sandeep Kumar and Sudarshan Rao Karwal took victories in the JK India Racing Series, Volkswagen Vento Cup and Formula LGB04 categories on the opening day of the third round of the JK Tyre Racing Championship at the Buddh International Circuit at Greater Noida here today.

Along with races in these three categories, practice and qualifying was held for the 600cc and 1000cc classes of the JK Superbike Cup.

JK INDIA RACING SERIES
Ananth Shanmugam won by a margin of 11.525 seconds in the opening FBO2 race while a fierce battle ensued behind him as Akhil Rabindra, Vishnu Prasad and Karthik Tharani fought over second place. Prasad managed to best Rabindra for second place going into the last lap, after which Tharani made a bid to pass him for third. However, braking into the final corner of the 16-turn, 5.141km circuit Tharani ran into the back of Rabindra. The latter lost the rear wing of his car and crawled to sixth place while Tharani managed to finish ninth.

The collision meant Nayan Chatterjee was able to make it to the podium while Sandeep Kumar and Akash Gowda rounded out the top five.

FBO2 Race 1 (10 laps)
1) Ananth Shanmugam 21:55.344
2) Vishnu Prasad +11.525
3) Nayan Chatterjee +20.678

JK TYRE VOLKSWAGEN VENTO CUP
Anandith Reddy Konda won the opening Vento Cup race of the weekend from Ishaan Dodhiwala and Karminder Singh after the event saw a lengthy safety car period followed by a red-flag before it was restarted. The delay was on account of a car that had stalled on the outer edge of the main straight and took a while to be towed to safety. Sailesh Bolisetti and Raghav Sharma completed the top five.

Vento Cup Race 1
1) Anindith Reddy Konda 15:09.504
2) Ishaan Dodhiwala +00.809
3) Karminder Singh +06.220

LGB FORMULA 4
With a new said to be on the way for 2016 - featuring a redesigned chassis and body, longitudinal engine and slick tyres - the LGB Formula 4 field gave the existing machine a proper workout with the customary close racing that the series has come to be known for. Sandeep Kumar won the opening race from Krishnaraaj Mahadik by 3.492 seconds, who was a further 4.350 seconds ahead of Vishnu Prasad. However, Prasad's third place finish was anything but a foregone conclusion with just 0.825 seconds covering the drivers from third to seventh place. Mahadik and Rohit Khanna rounded out the top five.

The second race featured a battle at the front of the field between Dark Don Racing's Sudarshan Rao Karwal and Ajay Kini with Rahul Rangasamy and Sandeep Kumar also making a bid for the win before the former settled for third and the latter was passed for fourth place by Khanna who had fallen back in the initial stages of the race after starting from pole position.

LGB F4 Race 1 (8 laps)
1) Sandeep Kumar 22:27.062
2) Diljith TS +03.492
3) Vishnu Prasad +07.842

Race 2 (8 laps)
1) Sudarshan Rao Karwal 21:58.469
2) Ajay Kini +00.465
3) Rahul Rangasamy +02.695